A Russian Drone Chose Its Own Target — Zaporizhzhia | Aug 26, 2026

The human has been removed from the last decision, and it happened on hardware you can order online.

Marcus and Sam open on the New York Times forensic investigation published August 24 into a July 6 strike on a gas station in Zaporizhzhia that killed three civilians. Ukrainian investigators found no antennas, no radio emissions across a flight of six Molniya airframes, and an unencrypted Nvidia Jetson Orin minicomputer whose code revealed the target classes it had been trained to attack. From there: Joint Interagency Task Force 401 marks one year, with 1,600 unauthorised drones detected and 700 seized during the FIFA World Cup, and a July 1 interim rule pushing counter-drone authority down to state and local police ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Ukraine crosses 100,000 ground robot missions logged in Delta, with 22,000 vehicles contracted and Smart Birds' Voron carrying eight net launchers to protect other robots. The Pentagon's GroundBreaker 1 unmanned ground vehicle demonstration at Camp Grafton. A Russian drone with metal-cutting charges in its wings built to drop power pylons ahead of winter. Ukraine's Alexa Spatium jet interceptor. Drone Dominance at 22,320 ordered and under 3,000 delivered. And Britain's quiet deal for access to Ukraine's Avengers AI Labs.

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